There are many staple travel books to have on your shelf if you live in Los Angeles. There's 60 Hikes within 60 Miles for the outdoor adventure inclined. For those who want to stay a little closer to home, Erin Mahoney's Walking LA is a fun one (related, Mahoney owns Chill Out LA, a spa, beauty, yoga and pilates site and e-mail newsletter, which just relaunched with a new design last month). And today, from......

Back in March, LAist contributor Julie Wolfson interviewed Design*Sponge's Grace Bonney. Among the questions was... Soon you will be in LA for the first time. What are you looking forward to doing while you are here? Oh man, first of all I'm looking to get out of cold, grey Brooklyn and get into the sun. But mostly I'm just looking to soak up a new city, new culture and take in as much as possible.......

So many times those of us who live in LA play host to out-of-town visitors who want to see all the sights that our amazing city has to offer. It's pretty routine to get asked if and how one can get up to the iconic Hollywood Sign to see it up close, and, sadly, it must be admitted that the sign is off-limits to regular folk. This means that looky-loos, locals, and pranksters who......

Not long ago, UK's Athlete scored the prestigious Mercury Music Prize for their 2003 album Vehicles and Animals. I've been following the band ever since that remarkable album. However, many have said that they made a stark transition from bright to melodramatic tones. Some see their 2005 album Tourist as the dawning of the Coldplay-esque, Brit-pop phase in Athlete's catalog. Fresh off the heels of their latest album Beyond The Neighborhood, Athlete have continued in......

Monday Paul Krugman discusses The Conscience of a Liberal 7pm @ Central Library Randy Cepuch signs A Weekend With Warren Buffett 4pm @ Dutton's Jenna Bush presents Ana's Story 7pm @ Pasadena Public Library Jason Goodwin discusses and signs The Snake Stone 7pm @ Vroman's Tuesday Wole Soyninka discusses his work with Mona Simpson 7pm @ Hammer Museum Eduardo Machado & Michael Domitrovich present Tastes Like Cuba 7pm @ Book Soup Maira Kalman discusses &......

Even though we are way way past school age, we still get a little melancholy at the close of summer. Fortunately, our friends across the -ist network know that the shenanigans don't need to end just because the big yellow buses are back on the roads. So, grab your sunscreen and your favorite hangover cure, as we take a tour of end of summer fun from -ist cities all over the damn place. SFist Tourist......

Monday: Duke it out! A few hours from now, "Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens debates political theorist Andrew Arato of the New School for Social Research on the war in Iraq and its impact on the present and future of America" at REDCAT (8:30 p.m.) Tuesday: Brain, meet Heart. Zócalo at Central Library presents Understanding Emotions and the Brain with world-renowned neuroscientist Antonio Damasio at 7:00 p.m. Damasio will discuss "his latest research on......

A random sampling of some of our favorite uncategorizables of the year. Stay tuned for a restaurant roundup, our favorite news stories, and some books and bars we love. If we can remember the bars. Best people watching: Arclight lobby (Adrienne) or just plain Best movie theater: Arclight (Lindsay) Best pop culture mashup: Wonka Meets Spock (Carolyn) Best TV shows: Veronica Mars, Battlestar Galactica, My Name is Earl, The Office, Rome, Out of Practice......

The hipster cityguide Not for Tourists is debuting its sassy 5th edition LA NFT just in time for the holidays. If you've got the 4th edition, some changes you'll notice are new sections on Zuma and Pedro, MOCA and sports. And the handy nightlife and restaurant and movie theater listings. All by neighborhood. Whew! It's enough to drive you to drink. Which you can do for free at the Not for Tourist launch party......